Sony could exit smartphone and TV sectors to boost profits

[HEXUS]

Firm is looking to focus on entertainment, PlayStation and camera sensors.

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[shaithis]

Not sure about phones but they might as well leave the TV market.

For years now they have been buying others tech and slapping them in their own cases, overpricing them and not selling many. It's been a LONG time since Sony made what I would call proper HT equipment.

[aidanjt]

Isn't their playstation division a big financial blackhole for them?

[crossy]

Not sure about phones but they might as well leave the TV market. For years now they have been buying others tech and slapping them in their own cases, overpricing them and not selling many. It's been a LONG time since Sony made what I would call proper HT equipment.

Problem is that if they leave the TV market then surely their "market profile" is going to take a big dip. And that'd seem to pretty much leave the TV market to LG & Samsung then - the latter not a company who's TV products I've got much liking for, with all the ones I've seen have had over bright colours (aka "clown-vision") and either horribly oversharpened or blurred (depending on model).

I'd have no problem with them leaving the smartphone market, and perhaps focussing instead on making Ara modules. In the early Android smartphone days I was a big Sony Xperia fan, but all the "Z" models have been pretty awful looking, unless techo-Bauhaus is your "thing".

One thing though - are they keeping the Alpha etc camera lines going? From what little I've read, the consensus seems to be that these are actually pretty good.

[cheesemp]

Hmmm. They definitely need to leave the TV market. They use to be good and I still like my budget 5 year old Sony LCD tv but the latest models have been mediocre. Regarding phones my wide has an original Z that is coming up for replacement. Its been ok however the software updates have been hit and miss. I think it would be a shame to see another competitor leave but understand why they would. Personally I'd stop with all the watches and the just launched smart glasses and just concentrate on making a decent phone with a decent camera...

[Brian224]

One thing though - are they keeping the Alpha etc camera lines going? From what little I've read, the consensus seems to be that these are actually pretty good.

It may be significant that you pick out the Alpha SLRs, which started as Minolta Dynax and go back 30 years to the Minolta 7000 and the first AF SLR system as a standout product rather than anything Sony have developed themselves. How far do Sony seem to have fallen from the days when almost any new consumer technology seemed to be preceded by the word Sony; Walkman, Trinitron, Handycam, Betamax, Video 8, DAT, MiniDisc, and Discman spring to mind?

[DanceswithUnix]

... LG & Samsung then - the latter not a company who's TV products I've got much liking for, with all the ones I've seen have had over bright colours (aka "clown-vision") and either horribly oversharpened or blurred (depending on model).

Do they still do that? Was years ago that I bought mine. The contrast etc settings were all at about 80% out of the box and the image was an artefacted mess. Set them all down to 50% and the image becomes lovely. I think they just want to look brighter than other sets in a shop.

[cptwhite_uk]

My parent's recently bought a Sony W7 series, over a similarly priced LG model which had terribly over saturated colours you simply could not get to be a reasonable representation of true life. The Sony was in a different league with bright but understated natural hues, so I'm not quite sure why people are suggesting their recent TVs have been lacklusture. Their £400-£600 offerings have had beautiful design and superb image quality for the price bracket.

[Kevsta]

Not sure about the TV comments, as Sony produced once of the best last year. The KDL-55W829 is highly regarded and I actually bought one, and the picture is stunning. Watching high rate movies on BluRay the visual detail is stunning and the motion compensation is awesome. Until Panasonic killed off the plasma TVs that is what I was planning on getting. If Sony leave I think it will leave a hole in the market.

As for the phones, I have a Sony Xperia Z1 Compact. Only a few bits of software let it down. Otherwise a fully water proof phone, 720p screen, 2+ day battery life and a good camera is what I want. There are that many IP rated phones with screens under 5", the only other one that I would be interested in would be the Samsun S5 Mini. As for the software, Cyanogen Mod should sort that out.

[Percy1983]

I can't even remember the last time I even considered a sony product, last I bought was a playstation 2.

I am not saying they have all been bad, there has just always been better value/quality elsewhere.

[shaithis]

The thing is, pretty much every TV over a certain price these days should be good at least. We are well past the bad old days of poor panel tech.

[MustardCutter]

In the early Android smartphone days I was a big Sony Xperia fan, but all the "Z" models have been pretty awful looking, unless techo-Bauhaus is your "thing".

I guess "techo-bauhaus" is my "thing" then
I think my Z1 compact is great both functionally and aesthetically. When I got mine no other manufacturer offered it's relatively high level of performanceand decent battery life in the smaller size that I wanted, dunno if that's changed now though...

[nitro912gr]

I recall a time when I was younger that sony had a status like apple have today. You didn't ask if the sony tv or stereo was good, you just bought it and it was the best.

While I don't know about the tv anymore, or their hi-fi systems, I can speak for the smartphones from personal experiences.
They didn't lost market because of the cheap Chinese smartphones, they lost market because the cheap Chinese smartphones where better than their smartphones at better price and I don't speak about specs but about quality.
Sony's cheap smartphones barely work, they are plagued with restarts, poor performance and terrible battery and sony doesn't seem to care enough to at least fix the serious problems, like say don't having the phone restart randomly...

First time I got a pure sony smartphone was the x10 mini pro for my girlfriend around 180 euros, we had great experience with the old Sony-ericsson phones and we expected something good.
The device was problematic, random crashes, random restarts, random noises at speaker, buggy UI and we had to recharge 2 times per day...
We sent it back for replacement 2 times before we lose all hope and stop trying at all.

I got her this year a cheap ZTE Blade Q mini for just 100 euros and the phone is great, it is working, it can use every modern app like no problem and it can keep a battery of at least 2 days.

Now this is not equal comparison, but then my little sister did the mistake to go and buy a new smartphone without asking anyone first. They sold her a sony xperia E1 which is equal to the ZTE above.
The phone have a good UI and smooth user experience, a little less RAM than the ZTE and smaller camera and the overall feeling on hand was very cheap made, but way better screen in terms of color.
It almost felt like a nice phone and then it started restarting at random times no matter what you did...
I updated it to the latest software update and I though it fixed the problem but it just made the restarts to happen between longer times, you don't call this a fix...

I was about to see if I can give it back for replacement but it was hard to prove that the phone is problematic because the restarts happened randomly and not if, lets say was playing a game or something, so I though to check the official sony forums for the matter, maybe they had a fix or something.

Well they had some but none worked and as it seems it is not like we are a handful of people who we have this problem, but a lot of devices did the same random restarts.
Sony never gave any official answer if they will ever fix this problem and yes we are left with another problematic sony smartphone.

Congratulations sony, you can now leave and take your fail with you.

[Saracen]

As nitro said, time was, you wanted a good TV, you bought Sony knowing you'd get it. These days, I wouldn't touch a Sony TV, regardless. Why? Bad experience, burnt fingers. And a friend in the hifi/audio business world that told me what he found them like to deal with. He stopped stocking Sony and if someone really wants them, he sends them to a competitor that still stocks them. He doesn't want the hassle.

[[DW]Cougho]

I feel I must defend Sony Smartphones here, my Z2 is very nearly perfect. I've had no issues with the device at all, the battery life is particularly impressive generally going over 2 days before needing a charge - and I spend hours a day using the phone mostly on speakerphone. My only slight gripes are the USB cover being a little loose and the phone is a touch too big even for my clown hands.

Apart from maybe the Z3 I wouldn't swap it for any other phone out at this moment.

[MrRockliffe]

I feel I must defend Sony Smartphones here, my Z2 is very nearly perfect. I've had no issues with the device at all, the battery life is particularly impressive generally going over 2 days before needing a charge - and I spend hours a day using the phone mostly on speakerphone. My only slight gripes are the USB cover being a little loose and the phone is a touch too big even for my clown hands.

Apart from maybe the Z3 I wouldn't swap it for any other phone out at this moment.

Lucky you haven't had to deal with their customer service. I took them 9 months to fix my Z1, which was replaced by an xperia Z because they failed to fix that in an appropriate time.

Quite simply the worst customer service I have ever dealt with. Ever. Even people selling counterfeit goods on eBay have offered better service.

I think they need to re think their entire mobile industry, because it's flawed in the most fundamental place - providing a great experience to the majority of their customers.

I hear nothing but complaints about their mobile industry on the whole. Audio and visual is a different story though.

Sony have always been a brand I tend to look to first, because they offer great quality and design. With the mobile side this is simply not the case. There are countless posts about the overheating of the Z and Z1, touchscreen problems of the Z1, awful quality glass of the Z3 and they don't care 1 bit, because money is worth more than their customers.

I usually try to be a very independent reviewer, try and and look at both sides, but Sony have caused so many issues for me that when I'm ever given an opportunity, I always turn people away from them.

They're on Watchdogs now and again too, with customer service issues and the PS4. People have reported that fixing their controller due to poor design and quality control has taken a few months, when it should be a simple replace and then find what's wrong. A company that doesn't put customers first is a company destined for loss. It's why Apple are still in the game and are able to charge stupid prices for their products - their customers have faith in them.